A VISION FOR THE FUTURE
Twenty years later, in 1936, Congress authorized reconsideration of the negative 1916 report and the County Board of Supervisors ordered another study in 1937. This time there was competition, and the decision went to San Pedro, where major expansion had been approved to form the present Los Angeles Harbor.
From this point on, the dream focused with increasing clarity on a harbor for small craft.
World War II caused a temporary halt to planning, but on September 7, 1949, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers submitted a report indicating the feasibility of construction of a pleasure craft harbor for 8,000 boats at a total estimated cost of $23,603,000.
CONSTRUCTION
AND FINANCING BEGAN
Marina del Rey has been a long time in the making. Construction of the jetties for the present entrance channel began in December 1957, but efforts toward a harbor at this location actually began some seventy years earlier, sponsored, ironically, by a railroad.
In 1887, a far-sighted man, named M.C. Wicks, organized the Port Ballona Development Company under the auspices of the Santa Fe Railroad. Wicks dreamed of developing the Playa del Rey estuary and inlet into a major commercial harbor to serve the Los Angeles area.
He managed to raise $300,000, all of which went for construction work over a three-year period. However, Wicks went bankrupt and the area was eventually taken over by duck hunters. Another quarter of a century passed without action, but the dream kept recurring.
In 1916, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers reported to Congress that a new proposal to develop the Playa del Rey Inlet and basin as a major harbor was impractical.
THE DREAM LIVED ON
In 1953, the County Board of Supervisors sponsored State legislation which eventually granted the County a $2 million loan from State tidelands oil revenues to assist in purchase of the new harbor site.
In 1954, President Eisenhower signed Public Law 780, making the Marina del Rey harbor an authorized federal project and planning moved into high gear. The federal commitment, however, was limited to the “main navigational features” and involved a 50-50 sharing of these costs by the local sponsor; in this case, the County of Los Angeles.
BREAKWATER TO
PROTECT THE HARBOR
Meanwhile, the results of the model study indicated a requirement for a permanent off-shore breakwater. The County Board of Supervisors promptly appropriated $2.1 million of the estimated cost of $4.2 million for this project as the sponsoring agency’s share, and a concerted effort by the County’s legislators in Congress was successful in securing the matching Federal appropriation in the 1963-64 budget.
Construction of the breakwater began on October 15, 1963, and was completed in January 1965. The dispatch with which this major point project was planned, funded and constructed reflected a healthy working relationship between County and Federal governments and particularly indicated the effective representation enjoyed by the County in Congress
OPENING DAY
COMES IN 1965
Marina del Rey has grown into a world-class destination and also vibrant community in Los Angeles County. Through the development of hotels, shopping experiences, parks/ open spaces, housing and retail projects the Marina has a unique coastal culture to be celebrated and expanded through the MDR for All Project.
WORLDCLASS
MARINA AND DESTINATION
Marina del Rey successfully surmounted its major development problems and was progressing steadily toward complete fulfillment of its destiny. Formal dedication of the Marina del Rey Harbor was held on April 10, 1965.
